


unplanned

by greenmeadow (byzinha)



Series: the unplanned 2nu collection [3]
Category: Gorillaz
Genre: 5 Times, F/M, Family, Slow Burn, phase 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-14
Updated: 2017-05-22
Packaged: 2018-10-31 21:21:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10907706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/byzinha/pseuds/greenmeadow
Summary: four times Russel was sure something was up and one he wasn't even surprised.





	1. roach

**Author's Note:**

> **Gorillaz and its characters do not belong to me.**
> 
> Hellor! I'm back. I had this little dumb idea and I'm writing it, I hope you all enjoy reading it. I'll break it into 5 chapters and I hope I can finish posting by the end of the week. We'll see.  
>  _Friendly reminder_ that English is not my first language and I don't have a beta reader, so forgive me for my mistakes. Also, I'm giving up on the accent thingy, I can't do that. I'm sorry.
> 
> I hope you enjoy the ride! And I'll see you soon

When Noodle strutted into the kitchen and Russel peeked over his newspaper, his eyebrow went up.

“Are you wearing D’s clothes?” he asked right away and she offered him a mischievous smile.

“Good morning to you too, Russel-sama,” Noodle replied first of all. “Breakfast smells great! And as a matter of fact, yes, I am.”

“ _Why?_ ” he asked. Not that it had been the first time she’d done that, just that… for some reason it felt different.

Russel didn’t know how to explain.

“I don’t have many clothes at my disposal at the moment,” she said, which made him frown.

“Your room is just down the hall, it has a huge ass closet,” he pointed out. Katsu, that was sleeping on the chair by his side, got up on the table and crossed it to get to Noodle’s lap.

“Yeah, but should I remind you that that roach is still on the loose there? I’m not going there until _SOMEONE,_ ” she shouted the word in order to Murdoc to hear from the other room. “FINALLY LET US CALL THE DEDETIZER!”

“ _NOT GONNA HAPPEN!_ ” Murdoc shouted back and she pointed a thumb to where he was as if it proved her point.

“So basically, all I have are the clothes that weren’t in my room, and D’s.”

Russel wasn’t less confused at all. He had so many questions.

“So you’re not going even near your room?” he asked. She shook her head. “Where are you sleeping?”

“With 2D.”

Slowly, Russel lowered the newspaper on the table. Noodle was chewing on a toast, her free hand petting Katsu.

“Come again?”

“It’s fine, really,” she said with her mouth half full. “His room is super neat, so I don’t have to worry about anything hidden under discarded clothes or something, and his pillow is so soft, because of his migraines and stuff.”

“Noodle,” Russ started worried. “Baby…”

“Morning Russ,” 2D greeted getting in the kitchen. He poured himself a mug of coffee, got a plate and then he sat down by Noodle’s side to get some scrambled eggs. Russel just stared at him for a couple of heartbeats.

“D, is she sleeping with ya?”

2D looked up at him.

“Huh?” he asked out of habit, and then he looked at Noodle. “Oh, yeah. The roach. Disgusting little thing. Yeah, she is.”

Why was it sounding so… simple? Russel couldn’t put his finger on it. The only thing he knew was that something wrong wasn’t right.

“It’s fine, really, I don’t mind,” 2D continued. “It’s just like when she was little, right Noods?”

Noodle nodded excitedly, a childish smile on her face. Russel looked from one to the other, still frowning.

“If it bothers you, Papa,” Noodle said pushing her bangs from her eyes. “All you have to do is find the roach in my room and _kill the bastard_.”

“Yeah, I’m not getting near no roaches,” he reasoned and she shrugged.

“I thought that being from NY and all you’d be braver than that, Russ,” Murdoc joked from the door. He was leaning against the doorframe, nothing but boxers on, and the three other band members shuddered at the sight.

“That’s _exactly_ why I don’t fuck with them roaches, man,” he said seriously, remembering of the streets of his hometown. “You have no idea.”


	2. smoke

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So many kudos, wow! Thanks guys!  
> I hope you're enjoying the read. Here's for chapter #2, I had fun writing it (instead of working, but who's counting?). This chapter has like, three times more words than the first one, what the hell.
> 
> It'll probably take me a couple of days to write the next chapter, though. If you'd be nice enough, could you leave a comment at the end? Even if it's to say that I suck, I can take it - said the author already crying.  
> Thank y'all lots! And I'll see you soon :D

“Something is missing,” 2D complained for the millionth time pulling at his hair and Russel sighed offering the sheet of paper back to him.

“I don’t know, D,” he said watching the singer reach for the pack of cigarettes and lighter in his pocket and lit up a fag. “I like it, it looks great.”

2D groaned and got the paper from Russel frustrated. They were in the living room, the drummer on the armchair and the singer on the sofa, his harmonica sitting between them on the coffee table, the ashtray filled with half-smoked fags. D offered a cigarette to Russel, but he declined.

“But is it fucking amazing?” he reasoned, not giving space for Russ to reply. “It isn’t. Because there’s something missing.”

Noodle showed up right then out of nowhere and leaned over the sofa next to 2D; she snatched first the paper from his hand, and then the fag from his lips. Russel watched as she jumped over the back of the sofa like she used to do when she was tween, her eyes never leaving the paper, and she sat comfortably with her legs crossed right next to D. She dragged on the cigarette a couple of times before offering it back to 2D without saying a word, and when he took it back, she reached for the pen behind his ear.

“Give me the harmonica,” she said, the tip of the pen following the lines of the song.

De pronto, 2D reached for the instrument and handed it to her. Noodle let it on their legs, turned it on and started playing the notes indicated on the top of each line in light pencil. 2D’s creative process was so messy that he rarely printed the lyrics with the chords in it until he was a hundred percent sure that he had gotten it right.

Russel observed as she hummed along, trying to figure out how the song was supposed to sound like; every now and then, 2D would fix her rhythm or change something taking the pen from her hand and scratching a line or word, or even adding stuff on the spot – like chords played over Noodle’s fingers.

Watching those two work on music was something else, Russel concluded. He saw it happen when they were recording Demon Days, D being the person Noodle would turn to whenever Murdoc dicked about her songs, pushing her to do something better, but that had been a while ago and the drummer had forgotten how it was to see them come up with something.

They replayed the first verse a couple of times, always with extra attention. Whenever they stopped to change something, Russel was surprised to realize that they were molding the song into something he didn’t know was necessary. That part of creative music was different from the part he fit in; his mind didn’t work like theirs, and he wondered what trip it must go on in their heads.

Noodle reached for 2D’s pocket and he didn’t even flinch. In fact, he leaned back to give her better access. How many times did she do that already for it to be so natural? She got his pack of cigarettes, put one between her lips and used the butt of the other to light it up, immediately sharing with him.

No one went through fags as fast as D and Murdoc when they were in the process of making a new album. Apparently, Noodle was picking up on that habit.

At the beginning of their third try at the song, Noodle stopped right away, both hands hitting the harmonica as the realization overtook her.

“You need a hook!” she practically shouted. She snapped so fast that Russel even leaned back on his armchair and 2D almost let his cigarette fall on his lap.

“ _Whot?_ ” D asked.

“A hook. Here, what was here?” she pointed a line that was crossed over in the same black ink of the pen in 2D’s hand. He shook his head.

“No, it was shit,” he said emphatically. Noodle took the fag from him.

“Right, but what did you have in mind?” she insisted and put the cigarette on her lips.

2D got the paper from her and frowned, going back in his mind to when there was something there, trying a couple of times until he was sure of what to do. He didn’t put lyrics in it, but played the extended version on the harmonica for her.

“Again,” Noodle ordered, and he played again. Russel leaned closer, seeing that there was something there. “The whole verse now, with lyrics where there are some.”

After taking a deep breath, 2D followed her instructions.

“ _When you passin’ look to die for…_ ” he sung, leaving space where Russel supposed was the line he had crossed. “ _When the case was out, tired and sodden, take it in your arms forever._ ”

“There! No!” Noodle interrupted, passing the fag to 2D. “No, hold on…” she bounced her head a little to the rhythm of the music and played again, managing to squeeze her hand between 2D’s on the harmonica’s keyboard. “ _When the case is out, and you’re tired and sodden…_ ” she half sung, half hummed, taking the time to figure out what was trying to be formed in her head. “ _Take it in your heart…_ ”

2D held Noodle’s hand right away and they looked at each other with wide eyes. That was it, Russel was witnessing first hand a holy-fuck moment. Noodle reached for her phone and opened a music app she liked to use to record things and they started again after D left the fag on the ashtray.

“ _When you passin’ look to die for…_ ” 2D started.

“ _Take it in your heart now, lover…_ ” Noodle added. Russel smiled as she continued. “ _When the case is out, and you’re tired and sodden… Take it in your heart…_ ”

“ _Take it in your heart…_ ” 2D echoed and Noodle paused the app so fast before they started to freak out. “Holy shit, Noods! You’re brilliant!”

“I know!” she exclaimed. They were both shaking with excitement, and Russel couldn’t help but chuckle. Noodle stopped short and took a deep breath, trying to compose herself. “Wait, we’re not done yet. We don’t have the hook.”

“Give it to me,” Russel asked and they both looked at him surprised. Did those fuckers forgot he was there? How rude!

Noodle handed the paper to him and she checked the app. Besides recording the chords, it also transcribed lyrics, but with D’s accent she had to fix a couple of things. She put it to play once she was done, Russel trying to pay attention to both the beat and the transitions to see if he could help, and almost like old times the rap just came to him.

“ _Back to when it was cool, ‘cause there’s no substitute. Who even knows the truth? The truth, the truth…_ ”

There was a moment of dead silence. Noodle’s phone looped back to playing what Russel had just said and he looked up at the two. She was recording. Why was she recording? He noticed that D had his fingers ready on the harmonica and it occurred to Russ that they were going to give it another try, but he interrupted them.

Excitedly and out of the blue, 2D pushed the harmonica to Noodle’s lap only and he reached his long ass arms in Russel’s direction fast enough for the drummer to be unable to avoid the contact. Before he could escape, Russel saw himself being hugged by D and receiving a kiss on the top of his head.

“You just saved my song!” D exclaimed. Russel pushed him back to the sofa where he should’ve stayed all along, and he tried to not look too smug about that little display of their singer. 2D turned to Noodle with a wide smile on his face. “Russ saved the song, Noods.”

“Well,” she pondered. “If _I_ hadn’t caught what was wrong, would there really be a saving happening in this living room?”

2D took Noodle’s hand on his and looked right into her eyes.

“There wouldn’t, luv, you’re right,” he said and then kissed the back of her hand. Noodle looked down blushing, but Russel wasn’t sure D noticed. “Now, all we have to do is figure out _how the fuck_ we’re piecing it together.”

Russel got up.

“Okay, that’s on you, dude. Just make sure to list me among the writers,” he said passing by them. He had spent way too much time in their crazy mind space already.

Noodle turned around to look him go, one arm propped on the back of the sofa.

“You know Murdoc takes creative credit over everything, Papa,” she said and he shrugged.

“We’ll know it in your hearts, Baby Girl!” Russel shouted back and left them to figure the song out by themselves. He needed a beer.


	3. jamming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and leaving kudos, guys! It's not like, a full detailed review, but it's enough to know that there are people enjoying it.  
> Here's chapter three for you all. See you soon! :D

Jam sessions were the best and worst part of recording a new album for the exact same reason: they had the chance to be silly. And even though sometimes they’d come up with some brilliant shit – like Amarillo -, other times they just ended up killing time they didn’t have. Like at the end of the process of finishing an album.

When Russel got to the control room of their studio in Jamaica that morning, that was what he found out: Noods and D killing time.

“What are they doing?” he asked.

“Jamming, man,” one of the producers answered. He sounded amused. “They were already here when we arrived and haven’t stopped. It’s entertaining.”

With 2D at the keyboard and Noodle with the mic dancing around the room, Russel couldn’t say he recognized the song.

“ _Listen…_ ” Noodle sang. “ _Hard at buildin’ trust from a distance… I think we should rule out commitment for now ‘cause we’re falling apart…_ ”

“You guys know that song?”

There was a chorus of “Yas” in the room.

“Drake, dude, from the new mixtape.”

Huh. Russel would have to check it out. He watched as Noodle danced near 2D while singing, leaning against his back when the chorus came up, the singer wasn’t even bothered about it.

“ _Passionate from miles away,_ ” they sang together. “ _Passive with the things you say, passin’ up on my old days I can’t blame you, no, no…_ ”

Noodle turned around putting her arms around D’s neck, her face next to his, totally into the song.

“ _Passionate from miles away, passive with the things you say, passin’ up on my old ways I can’t blame you, no, no._ ”

She stepped to the side and 2D looked at her smiling. There was something about the way they looked at each other that made Russel think again, like some sort of secrecy he wasn’t part of. He was still to decide if he liked to be kept out of it.

“Oi!” Murdoc stormed into the recording room with a mug dangerously shaking in his hand. Knowing him, Russel was sure that he didn’t have black coffee in it. “We under a deadline here, dullard! Less than a month for this album to be out, _le’s_ get to work!”

“You know we’ve been here _working_ for a lot longer than you, right?” Noodle commented casually, her arms crossed.

“You call rubbing all over Faceache work, I don’t,” he replied taking his bass to tune. Noodle rolled her eyes, 2D blushed; Russel looked around the room to see if anyone had an answer for him, but before he could ask if that was really what had been happening, Murdoc spoke up again. “Where the hell is Russel?”

Well, duty called. He’d get his answer later.


	4. dirty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and leaving kudos! I think that this chapter should come before the oneshot "unannounced".  
> Hope you enjoy, and if you'd be kind enough, leave a comment ^^

“Look, all I’m saying is that it’s a myth,” Noodle was saying when Russel joined the band in the kitchen that afternoon. He was in the mood to bake some cake and started to check the cabinets to see if they had all the ingredients. “No women like to suck dick. _Not even porn stars_ ,” she added when Murdoc opened his mouth to protest.

Sitting side by side, Noodle was painting 2D’s nails in multicolor; the singer had been a subject to her fashion trends since she was a little girl. Murdoc was sitting across from them, a bottle of beer in his hands. Russel made space to the cake ingredients next to Murdoc.

“When we do,” Noodle continued. “It’s not out of pleasure, it’s out of favor.”

“ _We?_ ” Russel asked, almost dropping the bag of flour. Noodle looked up at him.

“Yeah. I’m a woman too. Forgot?”

He hadn’t, but he also liked to think of her as his baby girl, not a full grown sexually active woman.

“Yeah, and she knows _aaaaaall_ about blow jobs, right girlie?” Murdoc provoked.

Russel new for a fact that Murdoc hated each and every acquaintance Noodle would bring home, but he was also the first to annoy her about her love life.

“ _Do you_ , Murdy?” she replied in a heartbeat. “Know everything about how blow jobs feel in your mouth?”

Murdoc didn’t answer and Noodle grinned mischievously as she opened a green nail polish.

“We all know you do,” she accused and 2D chuckled. Russel had to pretend to be looking for something in the cabinets to hide his face. “Look, no one enjoys having your face in other person’s genitals. Or you mean to tell me you willingly enjoys sucking pussy?”

“Yes.” Murdoc answered de pronto. 2D shrugged causing Noodle to smudge the polish on his pinky. She cleaned it up with a small cotton ball and acetone.

“You want to answer again, but taking your time to think it over?” Noodle offered skeptically.

“I like it, though,” 2D confessed offering his other hand for her to paint. “A woman’s body is… awesome. Don’t you _fink_?”

Noodle looked up at him and smiled. Russel mixed the dry ingredients in a bowl with a wooden spoon. Murdoc, who didn’t like to be kept out when the subject interested him, hit his empty beer bottle on the table.

“Look, girlie, women _love_ to have sex with me and that’s a fact.”

“Is it, really?” 2D asked casually.

“Are you _sure_?” Noodle added.

“And no one ever complained about giving BJ’s!” he continued, sure of himself.

“Again, a favor. Not a pleasure,” Noodle argued. “Women don’t like it.”

“Some do,” Murdoc protested.

“Wanna mansplain me why?” Noodle replied calmly and Murdoc groaned frustrated. He got up annoyed.

“You tell her why, Faceache, I’m outta ‘ere.”

Russel started to mix the batter with the mixer, preventing that conversation to continue. To be fair, he didn’t think D would actually mansplain anything to Noodle, he wasn’t one to feel so entitled, like Murdoc liked to be. When the dough was finally the way Russel wanted and the mixer was turned off, the pair started talking again.

“You know,” D commented looking at his nails. “I don’t really mind either, sometimes. I just have to be in the mood.”

“Actually, same here, don’t tell Murdy,” Noodle agreed. She was painting her own nails now. “But mostly, when it comes to oral I enjoy ladies the best.”

“Oh, I _fink_ we’re in the same mind space, Noods,” 2D said leaning closer to her and she mirrored him.

“Maybe we could go sailing together!” she suggested and Russel decided it was time to interrupt that dirty talk with his wooden spoon pointed between the two of them.

“You’re not corrupting to D’s ways of conquests, Noodle-girl,” he protested. “And you’re not taking my baby girl your ways, Pot!”

They both exchanged a look and then sat straighter looking at Russel.

“It’s okay, Papa, you can come with us,” Noodle offered. “It’s about time you find yourself a girlfriend.”

“I don’t need a girlfriend,” he mumbled putting the cake in the oven.

“Boyfriend, then,” she said, eyes on her work. She was painting her nails red. “It’d make sense.”

“I don’t-!” Russel protested. “My love life is none of your concern! And you don’t need to go sailing! We’re busy!”

“You know, Russ is right,” 2D said. The drummer didn’t even have the time to thank the Lord. “With the new album out, the ladies and the lads will shower on us anyway.”

“We don’t even need to put on the effort,” Noodle said dreamily. “I like the way you think, Toochi.”

2D beamed. Giving up, Russel just sighed. Those two were impossible.

“Luv, I think this was your best work so far,” 2D commented, checking his nails again.

“Why, thank you, D-kun, I think you look dashing!” 2D smiled and Noodle turned to Russel. “Can I paint your nails too, Russ-sama?”

Russel took his time to answer, getting a bush and starting to clean up the table. D got up and got them some beer. He reached for the pack of cigarettes on the table as he sat down again, but Russel hit the singer’s hand.

“No smoking on the table,” he warned and 2D rubbed the back of his hand where he was hit. “And maybe later, baby girl, after the cake is ready.”

Noodle opened the biggest smile.

“Yay!”

Yeah, she was all grown up, all right. But she still was his baby girl and that wouldn’t change.


	5. expected

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, the end.  
> Thanks for reading, guys! Thanks for the kudos and everything. I'd love to hear your thoughts in a comment, if you feel like it :D  
> I'm sorry for any mistakes in grammar, accents and lingo, and thanks for looking past them. You guys rule!
> 
> Hope you enjoy the read!

They were close to the beginning of the tour, having extra rehearsals whenever they could. Hell, even Murdoc was showing up in time now. But no one was more committed than Noodle and 2D.

At first, Russel figured it was the thrill of working together again; when it came to music, they had always been so in sync. But it was different now, he couldn’t deny.

“Don’t you get it, Russel-sama?” Noodle said when he brought it up. “I _want_ it to be different, we’re having the chance to start over here, make new history. We’ve all changed. For the better, huh?”

Which was a valid point, but not what he meant.

That morning, Russel went downstairs with the sound of the ukulele filling the house. _To binge_ , it’s what they were playing. He figured he’d get some coffee before going to the studio and was surprised to see Murdoc in the kitchen.

“Are you sick?” Russel asked as way of hello and Murdoc made a face.

“No, mate, I’m making tea for the girly.”

Russel chuckled.

“Still trying to make it up to her?” he provoked going to the sink and opening the cabinet. He realized that the coffee pot was empty. “Damn it, Murdoc, no coffee?”

From over his grandpa glasses, the bassist glared at him.

“I ain’t got nothing to make up to _you_.”

Annoyed, Russel got the mate tea and waited for Murdoc to divide the hot water in two mugs, before he poured some for himself. The two of them headed to the living room together to get Noodle and 2D for rehearsal and they got to the door right when the song was ending; the pair was sitting on the sofa facing one another, Noods with the ukulele, D with the harmonica.

“ _My heart is an economy due to this autonomy. Rolling in and caught again,_ ” they sang together. “ _Cau-au-au-augh again… cau-au-au-agh again…_ ”

Noodle stopped playing, setting her instrument aside and 2D leaned in her direction, capturing her in a sweet little kiss, not even the sound of the shattered mugs that Murdoc dropped and his shocked ‘ _WHAT THE BLOODY FUCK!’_ killing the mood, and all Russel could do was smile and turn to the bassist at his most tranquil manner to ask-

“Are you even surprised?”

Because seriously, the signs had been there all along for the past months, all you had to do was pay attention.

Of course Russel would have a little chat with D and Baby Girl later, but Noodle was right, they all had changed, Pot included. He supposed their singer deserved the benefit of the doubt for once. And as long as his daughter was happy, Russel wouldn’t be a dick about it.

Looking over at Murdoc, who was as red as an angry bull, Russel shrugged. Well, he could only speak for himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I read quite a few fics already where Russel is FURIOUS with the 2nu possibility, so I thought about writing something different. I hope you liked it.  
> Thanks for reading! ^^


End file.
